GENERAL CONDITION OF WAGE-EARNERS[43]
I. SEX AND AGE OF NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS
In the 2,500 families composed of 9,788 individuals, the sex
distribution and age grouping[44] throw some light upon the life
conditions of the wage-earning class. That city life does not look
with favor upon a large juvenile element in the population is
generally believed. That the city draws mainly those of the working
period of life is also generally conceded. The number of children in
this Negro group under 15 years of age is 19 per cent, below normal
for great cities, and the upper age limit is also quite low, being
only 6.6 per cent between forty-five and fifty-four years, and 3.2 per
cent over fifty-five years. Thus the bulk of the population, 70.8 per
cent, both male and female, excluding 0.4 per cent doubtful and
unknown, falls between fifteen and fifty-four years, or within the
vigorous working period of life. This is fully set forth in Table XI,
which gives the sex distribution and age grouping in assembly
districts of the 9,788 individuals in these 2,500 families of the
Census of 1905:
TABLE XI. SEX DISTRIBUTION AND AGE GROUPING OF 9,788 NEGRO
WAGE-EARNERS IN MANHATTAN, STATE CENSUS, 1905.
---------------------+--------------+--------------+----------------
| Male. | Female. | Total.
Age group. +------+-------+------+-------+------+---------
| | Per | | Per | | Per
| No. | cent | No. | cent | No. | cent
---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+---------
Less than 15 years | 949 | 19.6 | 910 | 18.4 | 1859 | 19.0
15-24 | 988 | 20.4 | 1155 | 23.4 | 2143 | 21.9
25-34 | 1543 | 31.8 | 1546 | 31.2 | 3089 | 31.6
35-44 | 889 | 18.4 | 809 | 16.4 | 1698 | 17.3
45-54 | 333 | 6.9 | 311 | 6.3 | 644 | 6.6
55 and over | 128 | 2.6 | 188 | 3.8 | 316 | 3.2
Doubtful and unknown | 14 | 0.3 | 25 | 0.5 | 39 | 0.4
---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+---------
Totals | 4844 | 100. | 4944 | 100. | 9788 | 100.
---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+---------
Figures obtained from the personal canvass made in 1909 bear
comparison with those of the State Census of 1905. Substantial
agreement is to be noted between the two enumerations, except for the
larger percentage of those under 15 years of age in 1905 (19.6 per
cent male, 18.4 per cent female), and the smaller percentages in the
grouping thirty-five to forty-four years (18.4 per cent male, 16.4 per
cent female). Doubtless this effect is produced because so many of the
cases in 1909 were individuals attending evening school, who were
required to be above 14 years of age, and because few over forty-five
years of age are attracted to such a place. The other small difference
in percentages is due probably to the small number of individuals,
365, in the figures for 1909. The sex distribution and age grouping in
1909 is shown in Table XII, which follows:
TABLE XII. SEX DISTRIBUTION AND AGE GROUPING OF 365 NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS
IN MANHATTAN, 1909.
---------------------+--------------+--------------+----------------
| Male. | Female. | Total.
Age group. +------+-------+------+-------+------+---------
| | Per | | Per | | Per
| No. | cent | No. | cent | No. | cent
---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+---------
Less than 15 years | 18 | 10.2 | 21 | 11.2 | 39 | 10.7
15-24 | 35 | 19.8 | 37 | 19.7 | 72 | 19.7
25-34 | 54 | 30.5 | 50 | 26.6 | 104 | 28.5
35-44 | 40 | 22.6 | 41 | 21.8 | 81 | 22.2
45-54 | 11 | 6.2 | 21 | 11.2 | 32 | 8.8
55 and over | 10 | 5.6 | 4 | 2.1 | 14 | 3.8
Doubtful and unknown | 9 | 5.1 | 14 | 7.4 | 23 | 6.3
---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+---------
Totals | 177 | 100. | 188 | 100. | 365 | 100.
---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+---------
The results above correspond also with those of the United States
Census of 1900 for the entire City of New York. Making allowance for
some families of professional and business classes, probably not
excluded from the Census figures for 1900, and for changes which five
years interval may have caused, the agreement with the two preceding
tables above confirms the representative character of the data for
1905 and 1909. For the total per cent under fifteen years in 1900 was
19.8; in 1905, 19.0; from fifteen to twenty-four years, 24 per cent in
1900, 21.9 per cent in 1905; from twenty-five to thirty-four years,
25.9 per cent in 1900, 31.6 per cent in 1905; from thirty-five to
forty-four years, 16.2 per cent in 1900, 17.3 per cent in 1905; from
forty-five to fifty-four years, 8.3 per cent in 1900, 6.6 per cent in
1905, and fifty-five years and over, 5.6 per cent in 1900, 3.2 per
cent in 1905.[45]
Here, then, is a wage-earning group made up of persons in the younger
and more vigorous working period. The small number of children under
15 years of age calls attention to the fact that the growth of this
population takes place largely through recruits from other sections of
the Country. They must find industrial and social adjustment to a new
environment largely made up of the white population. They are either
killed off by the conditions under which they work and live, or drift
away from the city at a premature old age.
2. NATIVITY OF NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS
If New York has a Negro population largely composed of immigrants from
other regions, the question naturally arises, From what sections or
regions do they come? The State Census of 1905 gives nativity by
countries only. Consequently, those born within the United States are
not specified by State or territory of birth. That large numbers of
the Negro population of New York City come from other sections of the
United States, mainly from the South, is beyond doubt.
We get the first impression of this fact from the Federal Census of
1900. For the whole State of New York in 1900, out of a population of
100,000,[46] 44.6 per cent were natives, 24.1 per cent were from
Virginia, 19 per cent were from other Southern States, with a
remaining 12.3 per cent to be drawn from other parts of the United
States and from other countries.
These proportions are different from those for New York City, because
immigrants make up a larger part of the City's Negro population. The
figures of the State Census of 1905, as well as those from a personal
canvass, point in the same direction, and the evidence indicates
clearly the probable condition.
The West Indian element in the Negro population of the City was
noticed first. The British West Indies furnish 5.8 per cent of these
foreign Negro immigrants, while the Danish West Indies, Cuba, and
those islands not specified, together make up 3.6 per cent, a total of
9.4 per cent West Indian.[47] Table XIII (p. 59) gives a survey of
this part of the population and shows its relation to the native born.
We are unable to get from the figures of Table XIII the sections or
States of the United States from which the 89.5 per cent of
American-born Negroes came. The few straws of evidence afforded by the
personal canvass point to the main sources of the stream. The
percentages have significance although the figures are few. The
Southern States, from which there are easy means of transportation to
New York, naturally furnish the larger part. Virginia supplied 29.6
per cent of the 365 Manhattan residents; South Carolina, 11 per cent;
Georgia, 6 per cent, and Maryland, 4.4 per cent. Taking the Southern
States by themselves, 67.5 per cent of the 365 wage-earners were born
in that section. Besides 5.7 per cent of the 365 came from the
British West Indies. The West Indies and the Southern States probably
furnished 73.4 per cent or about three-fourths of these wage-earners
in the Negro population of New York City. Table XIV (p. 60) shows in
full the State and country of birth of the 365 wage-earners.
TABLE XIII. NATIVITY BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH OF 9,788 WAGE-EARNERS,
MANHATTAN, 1905.
----------------------------+-----+------+-------
Country of birth. | No. | No. |Per cent
----------------------------+-----+------+-------
| | |
The Bermudas | -- | 28 | 0.3
British West Indies | -- | 566 | 5.8
Antiqua | 1 | -- | --
Bahama Islands | 7 | -- | --
Barbadoes | 36 | -- | --
Jamaica | 19 | -- | --
St. Croix | 46 | -- | --
St. Christopher | 20 | -- | --
St. Thomas | 8 | -- | --
Trinidad | 1 | -- | --
Not specified | 428 | -- | --
Danish West Indies | -- | 62 | 0.6
Cuba | -- | 14 | 0.1
West Indies (not specified) | -- | 285 | 2.9
Canada | -- | 16 | 0.2
United States | -- | 8,757| 89.5
Miscellaneous[A] | -- | 36 | 0.4
Unknown | -- | 24 | 0.2
----------------------------+-----+------+-------
Total | -- | 9,788| 100.
----------------------------+-----+------+-------
[A] The miscellaneous includes the following: Australia 3,
England 7, East Indies 1, France 1, Germany 1, Hayti 1, India
2, Ireland 1, Mexico 2, Monrovia, Africa 1, Porto Rico 9,
Sandwich Islands 1, Santo Domingo 2, South America 4.
Foreign and native immigrants predominate in the Negro population of
the City. With such a stream of immigrants the question arises about
their marriage and family relationships. Are they largely single
people, or are there large numbers of married, widowed, or divorced
persons among them? The discussion next centers upon this point.
TABLE XIV. NATIVITY BY STATE OR COUNTRY OF BIRTH OF 365 WAGE EARNERS,
MANHATTAN, 1909.
------------------------+-----+------+-----+------
Country. | No. | Per | No. | Per
| | cent | | cent
------------------------+-----+------+-----+------
Bermuda | -- | -- | 4 | 1.1
| | | |
British West Indies | -- | -- | 21 | 5.7
Antigua | 3 | -- | -- | --
Barbadoes | 8 | -- | -- | --
Grenada | 1 | -- | -- | --
Jamaica | 1 | -- | -- | --
Nassau | 1 | -- | -- | --
St. Croix | 3 | -- | -- | --
St. Kitts | 1 | -- | -- | --
Trinidad | 1 | -- | -- | --
Island Unknown | 2 | -- | -- | --
------------------------+-----+------+-----+------
------------------------+-----+------+-----+------
Country. | No. | Per | No. | Per
| | cent | | cent
------------------------+-----+------+-----+------
United States | -- | -- | 307 | 84.2
Georgia | 22 | 6.0 | -- | --
Maryland | 16 | 4.4 | -- | --
New York | 40 | 11.0 | -- | --
North Carolina | 35 | 9.6 | -- | --
South Carolina | 40 | 11.0 | -- | --
Virginia | 108 | 29.6 | -- | --
Other States[A] | 46 | 12.6 | -- | --
Miscellaneous[B] | -- | -- | 4 | 1.1
Unknown | -- | -- | 29 | 7.9
------------------------+-----+------+-----+------
Total | -- | -- | 365 |100
------------------------+-----+------+-----+------
[A] The other states of the Union are: Alabama 2, Arkansas 2,
Delaware 2, District of Columbia 7, Florida 7, Illinois 1,
Kentucky 4, Massachusetts 4, Missouri 3, Ohio 2, Pennsylvania
3, Tennessee 2, Texas 2, Michigan 1, New Jersey 1, Rhode Island
1, Porto Rico 2.
[B] Miscellaneous: St. Martin 1, Ontario 1, British Guiana 2.
3. MARITAL CONDITION OF WAGE-EARNERS
The State Census of 1905 did not ask about the marital condition, but
only stated relationships to the head of the family, so that the
conjugal condition of women reported as heads of families, of lodgers,
and of adult sons and daughters or other relatives in the family could
not be ascertained. Therefore, no attempt was made to give statements
about conjugal condition based on these returns. However, in the
personal canvass of 326 individuals, fifteen years of age and over,
the marital condition was obtained. The small number of cases included
in Table XV makes the figures and percentages presented valuable for
pointing only to what a larger body of data would probably make
certain. It is important, therefore, to note that 113 out of 159
males, or 71.1 per cent, and 106 out of 167 females, or 63.5 per cent,
were single, excluding those unknown. This suggests what the age
grouping would lead us to expect, viz., that the Negro group in New
York City has a large proportion of unmarried persons. Table XV, which
follows, indicates this conclusion:
TABLE XV. MARITAL CONDITION OF 326 NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS, FIFTEEN YEARS
OF AGE AND OVER, MANHATTAN, 1909.
--------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
| Male. | Female. | Total.
+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+-------
Marital condition. | | Per | | Per | | Per
| No. | cent | No. | cent | No. | cent
--------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+-------
Married | 26 | 16.3 | 30 | 17.9 | 56 | 17.2
Single | 113 | 71.1 | 106 | 63.5 | 219 | 67.2
Widowed | 9 | 5.7 | 27 | 16.2 | 36 | 11.0
Divorced | 3 | 1.9 | -- | -- | 3 | 0.9
Unknown | 8 | 5.0 | 4 | 2.4 | 12 | 3.7
--------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+-------
Total | 159 | 100. | 167 | 100. | 326 | 100.
--------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+-------
Now that the marital condition of the individuals has been indicated,
we may profitably inquire into the composition of the families.
4. FAMILIES AND LODGERS
An illuminating sidelight is thrown upon the general condition of
wage-earners by a study of the sizes of families and the relation of
lodgers to those families. The figures used are those of the State
Census of 1905 only, as the number of complete families secured in the
personal canvass was too small. The points of importance are the size
of the economic family, which includes lodgers and all others living
under one head, and size of the natural family when lodgers are
excluded. The census returns of 1905 showed relationship of each
dweller in the household to the head of the family. It was thus easy
to separate lodgers, except in some cases when relatives may have been
lodgers but were not so designated. Taking the 2,500 families as a
whole, with 9,788 individuals, the average size of the family was
three and nine-tenths persons. Of these, 2,631 individuals, 26.9 per
cent were lodgers, and 7,157, or 73.1 per cent, were natural members.
But these aggregates do not portray actual conditions. A true picture
may be obtained from a more detailed study of the figures which show
that 119, or 4.8 per cent, of the economic families (which includes
all persons living under one head) consisted of an individual living
alone; 576, 23 per cent, of two persons; 531, 21.2 per cent, of the
families had three members, while 478, 19.1 per cent, were composed of
four members. Above four, the percentages of families rapidly
declined; 13.4 per cent of economic families had five members; 8.3 per
cent, six members; 5 per cent, seven members, down to 2.2 per cent,
eight members; 1.4 per cent, nine members, and 1.6 per cent, ten or
more members. But the composition of these economic families is even
more striking. To illustrate, of a total of 576 economic families with
two members, 488 had no lodgers, and this was 36.1 per cent of all the
families without lodgers; out of 531 families of three members each,
173 had one lodger, or 37.7 per cent of all families having one
lodger, and 67 families had two lodgers each, or 20.6 per cent of all
the families having two lodgers. Further, 478 families of four members
each contained 133 families with two lodgers, 40.9 per cent of all
families having two lodgers, and 48 families had three lodgers, 27 per
cent of all families having three lodgers, while only 84 families had
one lodger, and 213 families, less than one-half, 44.6 per cent of all
families of four members each, had no lodgers. Taking the entire
2,500 families, only 1,353 families, or 54.1 per cent, had no
lodgers; 459, or 18.4 per cent of the total families, had one lodger
only; 325 families, or 13 per cent of the total, had two lodgers only,
while 320 families, or 12.8 per cent of the total, had from 3 to 5
lodgers. This left 45, or 1.7 per cent, with 6 to 9 lodgers. In a
phrase, the increase in the size of the family means, as a rule, an
increase in the number of lodgers, and the relative proportion of
natural members probably decreases as the size of the family
increases, the proportion of lodgers increasing with the size of the
economic family.
Now this showing is not the effect of lodging-houses run as business
enterprises, except probably in the families ten members or more,
which constitute only 1.6 per cent of the total 2,500 families. This
condition is most probably due in part to the fact--which both Census
returns and personal observation indicated but could not fully
determine--that many of the lodgers consisted of married couples,
sometimes with one or two children, and of parts of broken families.
Furthermore, the high rents[48] which Negroes have to pay, the limited
area in which the opposition of whites allows them to live, together
with the small income power due to the occupational field being
largely restricted to domestic and personal service, play a large part
in forcing families and parts of families to live thus crowded
together. This last point about income will be referred to again in
Chapter IV on Occupations and in Chapter V on Wages. It is a cause for
serious concern that only 54.1 per cent of the families had no
lodgers, and this percentage here will probably hold for the entire
Negro population of the City. If we exclude the 119 individuals living
alone, the families having no lodgers fall to 51.8 per cent.
This last phase of the lodger condition is emphasized if presented in
another way which shows the number of families having a specified
number of members, exclusive of lodgers. For the same 2,500 families,
it brings out from another point of view the relation of the family to
the lodgers. There is presented both the number and percent of
families that had a specified number of lodgers, and also, the number
and percent of families that had a specified number of members
exclusive of lodgers. For example, 178 families had three lodgers
each, which was 7.1 per cent of the total 2,500 families. And of these
48 families had only one other member; 57 had two other members; 36
had three other; 23 four other; 9 five other; 3 six other, and 1 seven
other. Out of 1,353 families that did not accommodate lodgers, 898
families, 67.8 per cent, had three members or less. Of 1,147 families
that did accommodate lodgers, 606, 52.8 per cent, had more lodgers
than natural members. And if we take the totals, 392, 15.7 per cent,
of the families had besides lodgers only one natural member; 909, 36.4
per cent, of the families had in addition to lodgers two members only,
and 508, 20.3 per cent, had besides lodgers three members only; 329
families, 13.2 per cent of the total, had four natural members; 325,
12.9 per cent, had five to seven natural members, and 38, 1.5 per
cent, had eight or more natural members. This makes it clear that
1,809 of the 2,500 families had three natural members or less, if
lodgers are not counted. To take a statement in a percentage that
probably will be applicable to the whole City, one may say that, even
including relatives who may have been lodgers, 72.6 per cent of Negro
families had three members or less, if the lodgers are excluded--a
fact of almost startling social significance. All this is a cause for
serious concern, and any constructive steps for social betterment
should give attention to the causes and remedies for this condition as
one of the first and most urgent problems.
To sum up the general condition of wage-earners: The Negro population
has increased decade by decade, except from 1840 to 1850 and from 1850
to 1860, preceding and during the Abolition and Civil War crisis. It
is made up of young persons and adults in the vigorous working period,
and has a small number of children under fifteen years of age. The
population is recruited largely by immigrants from the South and the
West Indies, who do not survive or remain in the City to a very old
age. Among the wage-earners probably single people predominate.
Largely because of high rents and low incomes, lodgers made up of
married couples, parts of broken families and of individuals seriously
interfere with normal family life. The families are usually very small
in size, from two to four persons, and an increase in the size of the
family generally means an increase in the number of lodgers.
FOOTNOTES:
[43] The term "wage-earner", for want of a better, is used to
designate the group of persons belonging to families whose heads are
actual wage-workers. This includes children and some other family
members not in gainful occupations.
[44] _Cf._ Bailey, _Modern Social Conditions_, (New York, 1906), pp.
67-89.
[45] _Cf._ Twelfth Census, _Bulletin 8, Negroes in the United States_,
Table 31.
[46] DuBois, _Notes_, _etc._, p. 2.
[47] In a study of _Negro Craftsmen in New York City_ made by Miss
Helen A. Tucker in 1907 (_Vide_, _Southern Workman_, 1907, 36: 9, p.
550), she reported the most reliable estimate of the proportion of
West Indians in New York City as about one-tenth of the total Negro
population. The figures above substantiate such an estimate. Of the
385 men in Miss Tucker's study, 29.09 per cent were born in the West
Indies. Among the 94 who claimed to know a trade, 57 or 60.64 per cent
were born in the West Indies. _Cf. ibid._, 37: I, p. 45. This wide
variation of percentage from that given for 9,788 individuals in 1905,
probably arises because (1) of the larger number of cases in the
latter instance, (2) the returns are from two other districts of
Manhattan besides "the Sixties" of Miss Tucker's canvass, (3) Miss
Tucker canvassed male craftsmen only; the figures of this text cover
the whole population.
[48] Real estate agents, who have handled properties during the change
from white to Negro tenants, testified that Negro families upon moving
in pay from $2.00 to $5.00 more per apartment. Others corroborated
their statements. _Vide_ also, Chapin, _Standard of Living in New York
City_, pp. 76-77.